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Posts Tagged ‘Appleton Estate’

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Review: Appleton Estate Reserve 8 Year Old Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on December 8, 2020

The Appleton Estate is located in Nassau Valley in St. Elizabeth which is part of Jamaica’s Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country is a karst formation which was formed over millions of years as the underlying limestone was eroded by the chemical action of rain.  Within a cockpit karst formation are valleys known as Poljes. They are formed where a river floods, then recedes and forms a flat valley over millions of years. The soil in the poljes is very fertile and rich in nutrients because of the sediments left behind after the river had receded.

Appleton Rum has made some changes to their core line-up in recent years adding a 15 Year Old Rum (see review here), and moving towards minimum age statements for a larger part of their family of rums.  In particular the Appleton Estate Reserve which was previously a blend of 20 rums with an average age of 6 years, is now an Age Stated Rum with a minimum age of 8 Years for the rums in the blend. The new Appleton Estate Reserve 8 Year Old Rum is also bottled at a higher bottling proof now 43 % abv instead of 40.

Here is a link to my review:

Review: Appleton Estate Reserve 8 Year Old Rum

“… When I bring the glass to my nose zesty oak spice is foremost in the breezes. My opinion is that the reserve is more oaky than before which makes sense as the spirit when previously reviewed was a rum with an average age of 6 year whereas now the spirit is at least 33 % more mature …”

Please enjoy my review of this sipping caliber rum.

Chimo!

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Appleton 12 Vs Flor De Cana 12 vs El Dorado 12

Posted by Arctic Wolf on January 1, 2020

Last night I hosted a New Years Eve Celebration for my friends and family. Nothing too outrageous, just a nice get together with about 20 attendees, some new friends, and some old friends. Most of the night was just sitting around the table swapping stories and reminiscing and the only scheduled activities were the two separate tastings I hosted in my brand new Tasting room that I had built last year in my basement.

Participating in the tastings was completely optional, some of my guest were acting as designated drivers, and some just wanted to hang out and relax enjoying each others company rather than sitting down for a formal tasting. This meant that when we sat down for the Rum Tasting at 9:00, there were 9 of my friends who wanted to participate. (This actually worked out pretty well as I only had room around my tasting table for 10 people.)

New Year’s Eve Rum Tasting in the Rum Howler Tasting Room

I chose three of my favourite rums for the event, Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old, Flor de Caña 12 Centenario, and El Dorado 12 Year Old. All three rums are pretty much the same age, and all three are in the same price range in my market (about 45 dollars per bottle). However, they are three very different rums.

Appleton Estate 12 Year Old is crafted in small batches. The rum produced from two different styles of rum, flavourful Jamaican Pot Still Rum, and a light column distilled rum. The rum is dry and full of flavour. This is also a true 12 Year Old spirit as the Appleton Estate website informs us that it all of the rums which make up this blend are each aged at least 12 years.

Sunset in the Nassau Valley home of Appleton Estate Rum

Flor de Caña 12 Centenario is a column distilled rum. This means it has a lighter body and flavour than a rum featuring pot distilled spirit in its blend. The number 12 on the label is representative of the average age of the rums in the blend with some variation in the actual age based upon blending to a consistent flavour profile. It is also somewhat sweeter than the Appleton Rum. It is not a sweet rum mind you, but there is some sweetness apparent in the flavour profile.

Flor de Caña 12 is part of the company’s Ultra Premium aged rum collection

El Dorado 12 Year Old Special Reserve Rum is similar to the Appleton rum in that it has both Pot distilled rum and column distilled rum in its blend.Aged stocks (the youngest being no less than 12 years old) from the original Wooden Enmore Coffey still, the original metal Diamond Coffey still, as well as from the ancient Port Mourant double wooden pot still which was used to produce ‘navy’ rum for the English Admiralty are each used in the blending recipe.  However, the El Dorado Rum is quite a bit sweeter than either the Flor de Cana or the Appleton Rum.

That’s me in Guyana where I visited the El Dorado Rum facilities and learned about their wonderful rums.

Thus the line-up I chose gave each of my guests a different flavour profile and a different level of sweetness with each selection. My goal was to show everyone that rum in not a uniform spirit, and by tasting all three, and comparing the profiles each of them might find a style that suits them.

The results were (as I expected) quite varied, 5 of my guests selected the Flor de Caña 12 Centenario as their favourite, 3 chose the El Dorado 12 Year Old Special Reserve and 2 chose the Appleton Estate Rare Blend 12 Year Old.

Interestingly enough, the 2 who chose the Appleton Rum were the 2 seasoned rum enthusiasts, or perhaps I should say, the two in the room who had the most experience with rum. Of the 3 who chose the El Dorado Rum, 2 of them were completely new to the spirit. The 5 who chose the Flor de Cana Rum represented a blend of both rum enthusiasts and persons who were not unfamiliar with the spirit but who might normally choose whisky instead.

With only 10 persons in the room it is hard to draw conclusions, but the trend I saw was that persons new to rum preferred the sweeter South American style, persons who might be whisky enthusiasts or part time rum enthusiasts preferred the lighter Central American style, and self avowed rum enthusiasts seemed to prefer the full flavoured dry Jamaican style.

These results are interesting although with such a small sample size they are hardly conclusive. Still I thought that sharing them was worthwhile.

 

 

 

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Review: Appleton White Jamaican Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on May 16, 2019

The Appleton Estate is located in Nassau Valley in St. Elizabeth which is part of Jamaica’s Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country is a karst formation which was formed over millions of years. Karst is a generic name given to limestone that has been eroded by the chemical action of rain. There are three cockpit karst formations in the world: Montenegro (formerly Yugoslavia), China and Jamaica.

Poljes are valleys formed within a cockpit karst and the Nassau Valley is a polje. Poljes are formed in formations where a river floods, recedes and then forms a flat valley after millions of years. The soil in the poljes is very fertile and rich in nutrients because of the sediments left behind after the river had receded. The Appleton Estate is the only sugar estate in the world that is located within such a fertile cockpit karst formation. All of the rum produced by Appleton Estate is made from sugar cane grown within the Nassau Valley, and thus Appleton Estate Rum is an expression of this unique terroir.

Here is a link to my full review for Appleton White Jamaican Rum:

Review: Appleton White Jamaican Rum

“… The initial nose is quite nice with light citrus zest and orange peel combining with background impressions of mushy banana. There is also a bit of Jamaican funk in the breezes carrying a mild but firm impression of Jamaican pot distilled character into the air with herbal undertones and a hint of mustiness …”

Please enjoy my review which includes my cocktail suggestion, The Secretary General.

Chimo!

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Review: Appleton Estate 15 Year Old (Minimum Age) Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on November 16, 2018

The Appleton Estate is located in Nassau Valley in St. Elizabeth which is part of Jamaica’s Cockpit Country. The Cockpit Country is a karst formation which was formed over millions of years as the underlying limestone was eroded by the chemical action of rain. Within a cockpit karst formation are valleys known as Poljes. They are formed where a river floods, then recedes and forms a flat valley over millions of years. The soil in the poljes is very fertile and rich in nutrients because of the sediments left behind after the river had receded. In 1749, within the polje known as the Nassau Valley, the Appleton Estate Sugar Factory was founded. The Nassau Valley has a special mild micro-climate which is ideally suited to the growth of sugarcane. As well, a water source wells from the limestone formation and provides an exceptionally soft pure water which used for the production of Appleton Estate Rums.

Appleton Estate 15 Year Old Rum was recently introduced in Canada as a new Limited Edition Rum. This is a true 15 Year Old spirit as all of the rums within the blend (a mixture of column still and heavy pot still rums) have been aged a minimum of 15 Years before being bottled at 43 % alcohol by volume.

Here is a link to my latest review:

Review: Appleton Estate 15 Year Old (Minimum Age) Rum

“… my nose is greeted by zesty oak spice, caramel toffee and light funky pot still aromas (camphor and resin, bits of menthol, and vague hints of tar). Baking spices (vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg) rise into the breezes as well. Spicy orange peel and a light grassy quality also begin to wind into the air above the glass …”

Please enjoy my review which includes a my cocktail suggestion, the Rum Old Fashioned.

Chimo!

 

 

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#Top100Rums of 2017: #1 – Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Rum

Posted by Arctic Wolf on December 20, 2017

Joy Spence, Master Blender for Appleton Estate Rum is celebrating her 20th anniversary as Master Blender of Appleton Estate Rum. She joined Appleton Estate Rum in 1982 as Chief Chemist and was appointed as the brand’s Master Distiller/Blender in 1997. At that time, Joy Spence became not only first woman to be the Master Blender of a premium rum brand, but also the first woman in the world to be the Master Blender of a global spirits brand. Since then, she has earned numerous awards, including the honorary Doctorate of Science degree from the University of Louborough.

To acknowledge her extraordinary career, Appleton Estate is paying homage to the revolutionary Joy Spence by releasing Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Blend, a rare 25-year-old minimum aged limited edition rum.

 

Joy Spence personally selected all of the rums within the blend and created all of the prototypes. She chose two very particular marques of rums to form the heart of her Anniversary blend, a 35-year-old rum (which I like to believe pays homage to her 35 years of service at Appleton Estate) and a very special 25-year-old Pot Still rum which was representative of the characteristic Pot Still style of Appleton Estate Rum. Particular attention was paid in this selection process as Joy’s aim was to choose rums which displayed harmony between the well aged oak character and the underlying Appleton Rum spirit.

Here is a link to my review for the Rum Howler 2017 Rum of the Year:

Review: Appleton Estate Joy Anniversary Rum

“… Jamaican pot still character (camphor and resin, bits of menthol, and vague hints of tar and iodine) very much in evidence within the oak and spice. Also within the merry little breezes was the Appleton Estate Rum signature of orange peel combined with dark brown sugar and rich baking spices (vanilla, nutmeg, cinnamon and hints of allspice) …”

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We have reached the top 5 rum spirits of 2017. In mid November, I tasted each of the top 5 rums side by side to determine the final rankings. These final rankings may not absolutely agree with my previous scores when reviewing each spirit, but they do reflect my feelings regarding the relative merit of each rum in mid-November 2017.

You can continue to follow the countdown on twitter (Rum Howler on Twitter) using the hashtag #Top100Rums.

Alternatively you can view the list as it grows daily by viewing my Reveal Page:

The Rum Howler – Top 100 Rums of 2017

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